Coiled wire conductor insulation for biomedical lead

Abstract

A biomedical lead conductor body formed of a coiled wire conductor that is sheathed loosely within a coiled insulative sheath of biocompatible and biostable material allowing a gap or space to be present between the exterior surface of the coiled wire conductor and the adjacent interior surface of the insulative sheath. The coiled insulative sheath is loosely fitted around the coiled wire conductor in order to compensate for defects in the coiled insulative sheath by spreading any corrosion of the wire that may take place because of the defect away from the site of a defect and along the surface of the coiled wire conductor. The lead body is incorporated into unipolar, bipolar or multi-polar biomedical leads having single filar coil windings, or multi-filar coil windings that may be redundantly electrically connected. The coiled wire conductors and coiled insulative sheaths may be parallel-wound and/or coaxially wound within the outer lead body insulative sheath. The individual coiled wire conductors may be formed of single filar wire or multi-filar wire cable and formed of single composition or composite conductive metals. The proximal and distal wire ends of the coiled wire conductors that are electrically connected in common are connected to lead connector elements and operative elements, respectively.